4,800-Year-Old Fossil of Mother Embracing Baby Found in Taiwan

Archaeologists have discovered the fossilized remains of a mother cradling a baby in Taiwan, museum officials said Tuesday. The pair have held each other for 4,800 years.

“When it was unearthed, all of the archaeologists and staff members were shocked,” said Chu Whei-lee, a curator at Taiwan’s National Museum of Natural Science, according to Reuters. “Why? Because the mother was looking down at the baby in her hands.”

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The mother and child were found during the excavation of 48 sets of remains from graves near the central city of Taichung. The fossils are believed to be the earliest evidence of human activity in central Taiwan.